Knowledge Really Is Power
by megustael izzard
Summary: This is my first fic in a verrry long time [: A dark force has taken control of the digimon Sovereign, and instead of protecting the digital world, they're trying to destroy Izzy and his daughter, who they captured there. T for some minor stuff.
1. Chapter 1

((Erm, I own none of this. Well, except for Jin. Like I said, this is my first fic in a very, very long time, so if you've got any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!))

She really wasn't aware her heart could move that fast.

In retrospect, it was all a big blur for her. She didn't even see him coming—one moment she was just standing by her locker, putting away this book, taking out that book, and wondering how much time she was actually going to have to do all this homework when it happened. She'd always known his locker was directly next to hers, but she never thought they would actually overlap their schedules. He visited his locker after soccer practice, and she visited hers before her tennis practice. But for some reason, the heavens smiled down on Miss Jinsheal Izumi, and he decided to visit his locker before his practice. She'd wondered if it would ever happen. Had she had time after her tennis practice, she probably would have visited her locker, but she couldn't risk walking home during the busiest traffic time of the day.

"Hey."

That word usually didn't mean much to her, but hearing him say it gave it a new meaning. It was no longer a casual greeting among peers, but it was an invitation to walk into his world, become a part of him, date him for years, marry him, and have the cutest little Jin and Rai kids anyone had ever seen. But for some reason, Jin froze a little, before just smiling casually back at him and putting her books back. She wasn't sure what to say—would just a regular greeting be enough for him? Her throat seemed to close up as she uttered a reply. "Hey," She mumbled, and she looked down to her feet for a moment, hiding a dorky grin before putting her laptop in her bag. And just like that, with one slam of a locker, he was gone as soon as he had come.

Was that really it? At present time Jin made her way down the street, tennis racket in hand, looking down at her feet. She was an idiot. He had to think she couldn't talk, or was just an incredible dork. Or even worse—what if he didn't even consider her at all? Jin frowned. Would she rather him think of her as a moron, or not think of her at all? It was a certainly perplexing idea, and she would probably spend more time on that idea than she did in her Trig class, had she not just arrived at her apartment building. She took out a smallish key, stuck it in the lock, and walked into the building, nodding at a few of the other tenants.

Jin cursed herself as she stood awkwardly in the elevator, wondering to herself about a few things. Mostly about Rai. Was she kidding herself? It was a moment in time they happened to share, and that was all that it was. It was probably all that he thought it was. So why bother considering it even more? If there was one thing Jin didn't understand, it was the way she was supposed to act among her peers. It was a different world to her—she didn't grow up with a lot of friends, as for a while her family lived in the country. So naturally she was a bit socially awkward, leaving her to seriously consider everyone around her and how _they_ acted. Mostly she mimicked them, but that was getting more and more hard every day. Their ways changed, and she had a difficult time keeping up.

Ding. She stepped out of the elevator, and made her way down the hallways before finally she came to her own apartment, wondering what mess would lie beyond that door. It never failed that Tentomon and Labramon managed to make some sort of mayhem while she was gone, and she was forced the clean it up because she was always the first person to see it. As far as her father was concerned, those two were angels, never messed anything up. She entered, and she was mildly surprised to hear furious typing coming from a certain room. Either the digimon had gotten on the computer (which she prayed wasn't the case—she would imagine they could do much more digital damage than any other damage), or her father was home early. She saw Tentomon buzzing around the kitchen, preparing something, and Labramon sitting squarely on his usual seat on the couch, leaving only the other option.

Before inspecting, though, she set down her bag, ruffled the top of Labramon's head, and made her way to her room. She stood in front of her mirror, tying back her reddish hair into its usual after-school ponytail, and changed out of her uniform into something much more comfortable. She came back out, and poked her head into the office, smiling. "You're home early," She said, and all at once, she realized why. She would've found it hard to imagine that he even left home today, considering what today was.

It'd been nearly six years since it happened, and Jin barely remembered any of it. It was cold, she remembered that much. Cold, and uncomfortable. Nurses and doctors walked around like they had much better things to do, leaving her father sitting right next to her. He didn't look sad; he looked nervous, very nervous. Jin was only ten at the time, but she'd pretty much figured out why. It wasn't ever day he yanked her out of school—her mother had to have gotten worse. It had been a fever, coupled with an already weak immune system, leaving her to die of a simple infection. Jin knew about infections—she had them at least once a year, so her parents gave her medicine, and she would get better. She didn't know infections could _kill_. She didn't remember the actual moment, though. Jin figured she probably blocked out the memory, which was understandable.

"Yeah, I am," He replied, and he smiled at her. She recognized the redness in his eyes, and the shakiness of his body, though she said nothing. "You know what I was thinking?" He asked, and he nodded. "We should go to the digital world—it's been a while. Between your school and my work, we never have time. You have the whole weekend to do homework right?" Jin nodded. "And I just finished off my project for work." He felt she still looked hesitant. She knew he was just trying to make this day hurt less, for both of them; if he gave them something to do, there wouldn't be time to remember what happened. He just nodded, and turned back around to his computer, typing a bit more.

Jin felt bad. That escape he was looking for was probably much needed, and she bit her lip. She had homework to do, and she didn't want to leave it undone just so they can go have a picnic. She crossed her arms, thinking. "There's always tomorrow," She said to him, and she rubbed her eyes somewhat. But it wasn't today, and Jin knew that. He didn't turn around, but he did just nod. "I'm sorry, dad," She grumbled, and she walked away from the office, going straight to her room and shutting the door. Jin grabbed her homework, but suddenly felt like the worse person in the world, but what was she supposed to do? Change her mind? He would just tell her to do her homework, and he'd be right. And like she did, there was always tomorrow.

Dinner was awkward tonight, Jin noticed. While Tentomon and Labramon ate quickly, the two human diners just played around with their food. Every once in a while Jin would glance up to her father, recognizing the look in his eyes. He was calculating, deducing, and pulling apart his feelings. He was trying to prove to himself why these feelings were pretty much useless, and they wouldn't solve anything. It was the same thing every year, and it never got any better. He still didn't realize that these feelings were real, and Jin became more and more internal and self-destructive. She watched as Tentomon excused himself quietly, buzzing off into Izzy's room to do whatever it was that Tentomon did. She vaguely reached for the soy sauce, and a few minutes later, Labramon sloughed off his chair, walking back to a small rug to lie down and nap.

It only became more awkward, now. Finally, after so many moments passing by, Jin said something. "Dad," She started, and he looked all ears. She stuttered for a moment, playing with a grain of rice, her head down from him as she spoke. "I'm so sorry that mom had to leave," She said, a small shake in her voice. It sounded so much more real when she said it out loud. She finally continued. "But we cannot keep brooding every time today comes around. We need to move on, or…or something," She grumbled, and she sighed somewhat, not sure she was even saying this correctly. "Something different needs to happen," She said. And to her surprise, he just didn't say anything. He just nodded. Did he have any idea how difficult it was for her to say that?

In a sudden fit of rage, she rose up and left, having eaten less than half of her dinner. She was too sick to her stomach to even bother eating anymore. Who did he think he was, just sitting there and not engaging with her? Was her suggestion just not good enough? She could never reach him on this anniversary, ever, and she was sick of not being heard. She knew she was right, she knew that he was bringing her down farther than she should be going. He did it every single damned year.

Jin slammed the door behind her, and immediately went into her bathroom, slamming that door behind her. It wasn't very often Jin experienced these bouts of rage, but when she did, it was all a blur afterwards. Things ended up broken sometimes, and sometimes she bled. When she did bleed, it felt so good. It was a numbing feeling. She'd escaped from her normal, awkward self, and she was suddenly immersed into a pool of absolutely nothing. With shaking hands she looked through her medical cabinet, tossing down bottles of aspirin and makeup that she never bothered to use, before she finally found what she'd been searching for.

She pulled out a tiny box of somewhat used blades, and she looked through them gently, finally finding the one she would use. She looked through the drawers of her bathroom, and she pulled out a lighter. With now trembling hands she put the flame up to the blade for a while, then blew on it. She held the blade with one hand while she other pulled off her jeans, tossing them aside. On her inner thigh were some very light scars; it had been a while since she did this. She found it disgusting after the fact, and usually tried to remember to never do it again. Then it all exploded into this.

As Jin came down from that fit, she wiped off any more beads of blood, hating herself even more for doing it. Labramon poked his head in, and pawed forward, licking Jin's cheek and he curled up next to her, trying to comfort her as best as he possibly could.


	2. Chapter 2

((Again, I own none of this : ))

Jin's eyes opened, and she glanced around at where she was. Labramon was still curled up next to her, his hot breath hitting her bare leg. And then she remembered. She let her head fall to the sink behind her, looking up to the ceiling and shaking her head. What was wrong with her? This was so illogical, and unhealthy, and it solved nothing; it gave her a high so high, she came back down and felt so low. She scratched at the tile floor, trying to gain a footing to get up, but in such a way she didn't wake up the snoozing digimon next to her. She looked down to him, petting his gray ears lightly, before she finally did rise up. The feel of the hard tile floor made him wake up, though, and it was all for nothing.

She slipped on some shorts that covered it well, and she made her way out of her room, looking around. Tentomon and her father snoozed on the couch, still, the TV remote barely falling out of his hand. She took it, set it neatly on the couch, and checked the time. Eight o'clock in the morning, and she was up already? Labramon grumbled something about it being early, and he lay down on his rug. Jin shook her head, and frowned, wondering if she shouldn't make breakfast. She owed it to him, and there was no doubt about that.

Not too much longer, Jin hopped happily onto the couch, taking her father's limp arm and wrapping it around herself. As he began to wake up, he looked down to her and smiled. "Good morning," He mumbled, and he ruffled her already messy hair. At the sudden movement, Tentomon woke up as well, only to stretch his wings, change positions and try to go to sleep again. Izzy shook his head, when a familiar scent caught his nose, and he looked down to his daughter, raising his eyebrows. "You made breakfast…?" He asked, a little surprised that she'd bothered to make breakfast. When she nodded, he smiled. "Thank you, Jinny," Izzy mumbled, and he rose up, rubbing his eyes in an effort to wake the up.

It was as if once yesterday was over, so was everything that had anything to do with it. As Jin and her father strode through a forest in the digital, admiring what it ha to offer, she noticed he had his usual spring back in his step. For a man who lost his wife, he was a generally happy man, without many complaints. Above them buzzed Tentomon, the humming of his wings filling the otherwise silent forest. Beside Jin walked her own partner, occasionally stopping to sniff the air, as if he detected something. It was truly a lazy Saturday for the two of them, and she almost wished this sense of serenity could last forever. Nothing this good lasted this long, though.

Jin caught side of her digimon partner stop, and his eyes became wide. He sniffed the air wildly, mumbling to himself about feeling something, and not being able to know exactly where or what it was. Just as Jin and Izzy had all their attention focused on whatever Labramon seemed to feel, Tentomon fell right from where he was flying. Izzy frowned. "That's never happened before," He said, and he looked around, watching as Labramon sniffed around the air in an insane sort of way, his eyes looking mad. "You alright?" He asked Tentomon, and the digimon nodded, panting somewhat.

"I know what he felt. It was the same thing that knocked me out of the sky," Tentomon explained, and he glanced around as much as he could, flying low to the ground this time. "It was a pulse of some sort, that just covered over us…" He mumbled, and suddenly he was knocked out again, but this time he managed to land on his feet. "There it was again. Don't you two feel that?" He asked, and the humans shook their head. "It doesn't feel right. Like something bad just happened somewhere, so big, that it shook up the whole world," He explained, looking confused.

"Like a shifting, or--?" Jin asked, blinking and glanced around a little nervously.

"No, it was in there air. Maybe only digimon could feel it," Tentomon said, and Labramon came running back from where he'd trailed off to, only to go and sniff around other things. "It came from nowhere, and I think it went nowhere," He continued, and he let out a very soft sigh. "It was probably nothing. Surges happen sometimes," He mumbled, mostly to Labramon, to get him to please calm down.

Izzy looked worried, and rightly so. He sat down against a tree, and pulled out a newer laptop of his. "I think it would be best if we went home even if it was just a surge," He said, only to hear his daughter sigh in protest, but he didn't bother saying anything about it. He went to go find where the nearest gate to them was, only to find that his laptop had absolutely no connection to the real world. He cursed softly, and began to play around a little with it. He rebooted the connection, checked the address, did everything he thought he could do right there to get it back. And yet, nothing.

Jin looked over his shoulder the entire time, watching him. Occasionally she would go to make a suggestion, only to see he was already doing just that. When he came up dry still, she frowned, and looked around, thinking. If they had no connection, then there was no connection. No getting back, no email…It had nothing to do with their home computers, though, because they couldn't go through any computer, at all. He'd tried other locations, and nothing. She leaned her head back on the tree, hating that she'd wanted to come here today. "So we're stuck, for now," She said, and he nodded.

"For now," He repeated, and after a moment of slight panic, he rose up. "Come on, we need to find somewhere to at least stay, if we do have to stay the night." He only assumed that was as long as they would be staying. This had never really happened before since digivices were introduced that could open the gates at will. He figured it had to be a small glitch of some kind, which the inner workings of the digital world were working hard on. So for now, he thought at least giving them some shelter was the best idea. "If I'm not mistaken, there's a small indentation of a mountain nearby, that functions as something of a cave. It'll give us shelter, anyway, if it turns to rain," He said, keeping a pretty positive voice on each word. Hopefully, his worries didn't have to become Jin's; she worried more than both of them combined already.

The rain pitter-pattered outside of their tiny little cave-like shelter. They'd come to realize that they had packed no food, as they had just assumed it would be a quick, leisurely trip to the digital world. Tentomon and Labramon were both stationed near the edge of the cave, keeping a watchful eye out, which Izzy and Jin sat on the inside, Jin's eyes on her father's typing. He'd already done everything he could, and now he was only doing it again, but nothing was changing. She was racking her brain to try and guess what they could be missing. "How could it just go out like that?" She mused, not really wanting an answer from him, and he picked up on that. "And no progress has been made to fix it, either…" She was slowly beginning to realize that this had to go a little deeper than just something going out. "Do you think something's…really wrong?" She asked him, a little hesitantly.

Izzy sighed, but not in a frustrated way. He was hoping she didn't reach that conclusion, or at least not that quickly. "I'm not sure," He replied, looking right over to her with an even deeper sigh. "And even if I really did know, I don't think there was much I could really do," He continued, and he looked back to the computer screen, his typing ceasing. If there was something wrong with the actual digital code, it would take weeks to sort it all out for someone who was experienced with the code—it would take Izzy much longer. What bothered him far more than why they couldn't get back home was why hadn't Gennai contacted him about it. He knew for a fact they could track just who was in the digital world, and the two of them would certainly come up. Izzy had a gut feeling that something was not only wrong with the digicode, but Gennai as well. "Why don't you try and get some rest?"

Jin sighed, and nodded, scooting away from him. Her stomach grumbled out loud—she hadn't eaten all day. Hopefully, she told herself over and over again, they would be out at least by sometime tomorrow. And if not, there was always the digital fruit that was growing from the trees, that Tentomon could easily get. She shifted on the uncomfortable stony surface she was sleeping on, before finally resting on her back. After a while her eyes gently closed, and she fell asleep to both the tapping of the rain and the tapping of the keyboard.

Izzy relaxed a little when he heard the rhythmic breathing of Jin, signifying her slumber. He glanced over at her every once in a while, as if he was worried something horrible was happening to her. He couldn't stop the flashes of possibilities in his head—was Jin even going to be okay? He was so foolish to not pack any food. He knew Joe would have. Joe was a good father, after all. He was always watching out for his two boys, following right behind him. Izzy used to think he was overprotective and overbearing, but now that he was in this situation, he knew exactly what Joe was thinking about that whole time. Danger lurked around every corner. The original group was so luck they didn't anymore hurt than they already did. What was he thinking, letting her come here like this? Sure, she had both a digimon and a digivices, signifying her being a digidestined, but that didn't mean he had to bring her here. She didn't have any purpose here, after all. Surely not _his_ daughter.

"Hey you two," He said to the guarding digimon, and they both turned around. "Go ahead and get some sleep. I think I'll be fine tonight," He said, and Tentomon quickly obliged, curling up in the corner. Labramon seemed hesitant, but even he too went to lie down, right next to Jin. Izzy rubbed his eyes. Tonight was going to be the longest night.

Nearly three hours passed, and still Izzy typed away, trying to find a way to fix all of this. He was shocked to see a transmission suddenly appear on his screen, only to see Gennai. He looked weak, and sick, and Izzy suddenly became worried. The transmission was horrible, and he could only make out every other word. "Horrible," Gennai said, and the picture went fuzzy for a moment. "Sovereign—possessed—all communications—gone. Attacking—be careful—strong—!" There was an explosion in the background, and the picture went out.

Izzy growled, and he grabbed his computer. "Come on!" He snapped, maybe a little louder than he should, but he was desperate for some answers. He cursed, and he tried desperately to get Gennai back, but he knew that was it. That was all they were going to get. "What's going on!?" He flat-out yelled, waking up just about everyone. He saw out of the corner of his eye his daughter coming to sit right next to him, and he let out a series of growls. He looked down to the completely blank screen, his hands falling down to the sides of him.

"What's going on?" She asked him, wiping some of the sleep from her eye, and she looked to the screen. At this point Labramon was pacing out near the entrance, looking out at the dark night before them, sniffing the air like mad.

Izzy looked back to her, and he shook his head. "Jinny, I'm…I'm not very sure," He replied. "Go on back to sleep, I'll figure it out," he mumbled, and he felt her head rest on his shoulder. He wrinkled his nose, but he allowed her to stay where she was.


	3. Chapter 3

((No reviews? D: ))

Jin felt Labramon's paw shake her awake. The first thing she saw was his happy face staring down at her, his paws now resting on her stomach, and she rose up, glancing around. Tentomon was enjoying a ripe piece of digifruit, and immediately Jin grinned. She felt hunger in the pit of her stomach, so she reached for a piece, only to hear her father stop her. "Don't bother," He said, and he sighed, looking over to her. "Humans aren't able to consume digifruit, because we technically aren't data, so we can't digest data," He explained, and he rubbed his eyes, looking back over to her disappointed face. "And I still haven't figured out a way to get back home." This part was mumbled, and he hung his head in shame.

Jin felt helpless. She was hungry, and she was tired, and she wanted to go home. But they still couldn't get back there. How long was this supposed to go on, anyway? She wasn't sure they could go very much longer—thankfully, they had brought water, but they barely had any of that. While it was great the digimon was munching away and getting nutrition, where did that leave them? Didn't they need to be strong, too, to help with digivolving? She just had never been in this situation, so she literally had no idea what was going on. "I think I'm going to go for a walk, to get some air and stretch my legs. Labramon, you wanna come?"

"No, I don't want you leaving, Jin," Izzy said, and he looked up to her, only to meet with her somewhat challenging gaze. This was going to be fun, certainly.

"Why?" Jin demanded, wanting to know exactly why she couldn't breath some fresh air, and walk while she still had the strength. Maybe she was being melodramatic, and maybe this would all work itself out quicker than she expected, but then again, maybe not. None of this was in their control, after all.

Izzy bit his lip. He wasn't sure how exactly to deal with this. She seldom defied him, and even when she did, it was hardly a life-or-death situation like it was now. Whoever did this obviously did it for a reason, and if the reason was to keep them there, then the both of them were in mortal danger. He hesitated, wondering if he shouldn't just come right out and say how concerned he was for their safety, Especially hers. He just didn't know if he could really and honestly stand losing his only kid, too. He began to speak, only to see Jin start walking off anyway, Labramon following hesitantly. Tentomon looked over to Izzy, and he shook his head. "She's just a teenager…it was only a matter of time before she started rebelling," He said simply, and he continued to chomp on all the digifruit he could get his claws on.

Izzy glanced down to the computer. It was going to take him days to just get past the security that was placed around the digital code, if that were really the problem. He had to personally upgrade his software to get the passwords for the digital world, and _that_ would take him another few more days. If it didn't fix it by itself, Izzy just wasn't sure if he could even live long enough to figure it all out. Or worse, that Jin wouldn't live long enough. He stopped typing at the thought, hating himself for thinking of that. It was at that moment that he heard a scream, and he pushed aside his laptop, immediately rising up and going to the sound of the scream. "Jin!" He yelled, and he heard her yell from another direction.

He pushed past trees and bushes, Tentomon flying right ahead of him. Finally he saw Jin and Labramon fighting off a huge tiger-like digimon. All at once Izzy froze. This was so backwards…Baihumon was supposed to be a Sovereign, and protect the digital world. He was attacked them! He figured he would have time to think about it later, but now was certainly the time to act. "Tentomon!" He yelled, and his digimon partner instantly digivolved into his champion form, and then finally into Megakabutarimon. As Megakabutarimon went to attack, Izzy ran over to Jin, grabbing her shoulders. "Why did you leave like that, you could have been hurt!" He yelled, and he shook his head, turning back to see the large Baihumon growl, almost stalking Megakabutarimon.

"Labramon!" She yelled, and he instantly began to digivolve into Dobermon. Jin pulled away from her father. "I only left because all you wanted to do is sit, and work! Obviously whatever is happening is happening for a reason, and we just need to face this reason head on!" Jin yelled, and she watched Dobermon go straight to attacking Baihumon, only to be shot down almost immediately. She tensed, clutching her digivice in her hand as she almost felt the hit from Baihumon. "Dobermon, be more careful!" She yelled, and she looked back up to Megakabutarimon as he attacked, and hit right on.

Izzy glanced back to see Baihumon fall back slightly, and stay down for only a moment before he rose back up, coming back strong with his attack. "Kongou!" Yelled Baihumon, letting out a sheet of blue power come from his mouth, and completely immerse Megakabutarimon. He fell right from the sky, causing a huge shake in the land, and Baihumon let out a roar. "Do not defy the power of the new Sovereign!" He yelled, and his tail flicked behind him. "You cannot win, no matter how hard you try!" He continued.

Megakabutarimon rose up, followed by Dobermon, and the two of them attacked full on. A ball of dark electricity came flying from Dobermon's mouth, following his attack cry, and Megakabutarimon let out his own electric attack. The two surges hit Baihumon full on, a cloud of dust and leaves surrounding him. Izzy and Jin seemed to both sigh a sigh of relief, as well as their digimon, but Baihumon stirred with a loud roar. He circled around the two digimon, his tail twitching behind him more than ever, now. Suddenly, Dobermon attacked Baihumon, only to be bitten clear in the center of his body, and thrown back. "Dobermon, no!" Jin yelled, and she went to go and get him, but was quickly stopped by Izzy. "Let me go, let me go!" She yelled, but her father held strong, for fear of losing her, too.

A glowing purple light surrounded Dobermon, and came from Jin's digivice. After a moment of waiting, the light faded, and a growling Cerberumon emerged from it. His teeth bore wildly at Baihumon, and the hair on the back of all three of his necks stood straight up. He dug into the ground, and the two stared wildly at each other, all six of Cerberumon's eyes staring straight into the deep blue eyes of Baihumon. After what seemed like years, Baihumon leapt, clawing at Cerberumon as much as he could. They got into a horrible bustle, an attack or two coming out of it, until they both broke apart. Megakabutarimon shot out his Horn Buster, and Cerberumon added to that his Emerald Blaze. The two attacks combined collided with Baihumon, forcing him to fly off into a bushel of trees. The two digimon both stood touch, waiting for Baihumon to get back up. He tried to, weakly, and finally, the huge digimon stumbled back into the bushel. He let out a low growl, and began to chuckle lightly. "This is only the first fight in a series of so many. Just because you've beaten me…it doesn't mean anything. You will both fail, and die," He said, before his data disappeared into the air.

A small green blob, Montimon, made his way to Izzy, who quickly picked him up and smirked. "You were great," Izzy breathed, and he shook his head at the proud-looking digimon. He turned back to Jin, who looked a little white in her face. At least, more than usual. Izzy set Montimon down, and he walked over to her. "I think I may have figured out what's going on," He said, and he sighed. "I got a message yesterday from Gennai. He said something about how the Sovereign were possessed, or…or something like that. I think the very digimon who are meant to protect and watched over the digital world are actually trying to take complete control of it, but they're being used. I'm not sure—."

"Shaomon!" Jin yelled, and she looked apologetically up to her father for interrupting before going to her digimon, now in the in-training form, Shaomon. The small puppy-like creature, whose colors were identical to the black and gray colors of Labramon, looked weakly up to Jin. She held the small digimon, shaking her head. "I can't believe you digivolved to the ultimate level, finally, I'm so proud of you," She mumbled, and she rose up, petting Shaomon's hair a little bit before she returned to her father. "Do you mean that the Sovereign are possessed by some sort of…some sort of evil being?" She asked, looking up to the man with a small sigh. "No doubt the same being that's trapped us here."

"Exactly," He said, and he sighed. "I didn't mean to yell at you, Jin. You know, before…I just don't want you walking out like that, without me knowing where you're going. I know you had Labramon with you, but there was no way he could have beat Baihumon," He explained, and he ruffled her hair a little bit. "Now come on, Jin, we need to go back to the cave so I can work on getting to the digicode," He said, and he nodded; he only assumed she would follow right after him, but he didn't hear any of her footsteps. He turned back around, and he frowned. "Jin, come on, before someone else comes after us," He said.

"No," Jin said, and she let Shaomon jump from her arms and go on to sniff around, pawing at Montimon. "You know that will take weeks. Getting through the passwords, the firewalls, and even just making the programs to do that is going to take too long," She grumbled, and she looked up to him with a tiny sigh. She looked down for a moment. "Wouldn't it be…be more logical, if we just stayed at fought?" She asked him, looking at him. "I know we're not that strong, but with our lack of food…dad, if we sit around and wait for you to get through all of that…" She frowned, and looked back down at her feet. "We'll die."

Izzy frowned. Occasionally he forgot that he did instill most of his knowledge onto her. Unfortunately, he didn't remember this time how quickly she was bound to find out. He sighed. "We're not strong enough," He said, and he glanced up to her, barely making any eye contact with her. "We barely beat Baihumon—do you think we could honestly stand up to someone like Azulongmon? We're bound to face him some time, and you and I both know that we couldn't face someone like him," He said to her, and he walked over to her, wanting to hug her. But he just couldn't bring himself to—contact with her had never really been easy. "We'd have at least a better chance at trying to find a way out of here."

"So it's die quickly or die slowly?" Jin said. It wasn't a very loud voice, but it surely caught everyone's attention immediately. She shook her head, and she pushed past her father. She wished he could understand that she didn't want to just sit around, and hope for the best. Surely there was some way they could fight and beat them. _But then, there are only two of us. The Dark Masters were a lot weaker than the Sovereign, and that took seven digidestined to beat them. Maybe dad's right…there's a much better chance of anything happening to get us a step further if we just sit down and figure it out on the computer. But I'm a digidestined…shouldn't I be doing everything I can to fix this?_

Izzy finally joined up with Jin back at their makeshift home. He saw her curled up in the corner with Shaomon, though she was certainly not yet asleep. He took his laptop, and he continued to work on a program to try and crack through the many layers of security. He hadn't gotten sleep in nearly a day, though. Sure, he slept a few hours while Tentomon was awake to keep guard. Not to mention he was starving. He wiped the reddish stubble on his chin, shaking his head. He just couldn't believe this was actually happening to them.


	4. Chapter 4

((Once more, I don't own a lick of this. Thanks for my one review, heh. I kinda gave up on it, but since someone seems to enjoy, and now that summer's rolled around, I guess I can go ahead and try and finish a fic for once. Please r&&r, I'd so appreciate it!))

For once, Jin was the one behind the computer. She'd convinced him the next morning to step aside, and finally get some sleep while she worked on it. When she was younger, he tutored her in the digicode language, as well as the many real-world computer languages, so she knew the both of them like the back of her hand. She typed away while the newly revived Labramon lay down next to her, every once in a while asking questions about what exactly she was doing. She pushed back some of her hair, that was becoming increasingly greasy as each day went by, and then went right back to typing away.

As the sound of her father's snoring filled the small cave, Jin couldn't help but think what would happen after they finally did leave. Would anyone ever find out what happened to them? She glanced around, and decided to, for now, stop working on their current project. It was useless to even bother. Instead, she opened up a new text document. Her eyes cut over to Izzy, hoping he didn't wake up while she did this—it would be a little embarrassing for him to know what she was about to do. She sighed softly, and she began to type in the document, her hands shaking more and more as she typed faster and faster. Jin had this to say:

_To Whom It May Concern:_

_I'm writing this as our third day in the digital world begins. So far, we've been unsuccessful in finding another way to escape this world that's been holding us hostage. The only ways we have found both were fatal. Chances are if you are reading this, we've already passed from hunger. The food here is no longer edible for human consumption. Whatever happens in the digital world, we're certain the other digidestined will handle it a lot more prepared than we did._

_It's become apparent to us that the digimon Sovereign, sent to protect the digital world, have been taken over by an evil entity to rule over the digital world. Naturally the Sovereign are strong—stronger than both my father and me could ever match. Both of us have assumed that us attempting to beat them would end in our demise. _

_I want to wish all of you luck in trying to defeat the Sovereign, and in doing so, destroying the entity._

_Izumi Jinsheal_

She read it over and over again, each time another tear building up in her eye, which was forced back down with a quick and strong frown. Jin finally saved it, titling it as 'Message', and she saved it to a folder that hopefully her father wouldn't track down. She only hoped whoever came across them would look for something like this, and their message would be heard. Jin continued with their original project, her tired eyes looking over the long line of code they'd both put together, just trying to make sure that everything she had done so far had been compliant with what they were heading towards.

A few hours later Izzy woke up again, watching his daughter for a moment as she typed, and he finally made some noise to get her attention. She gave a polite nod, and quickly gave up the laptop to him, when he did finally scoot over to where she was sitting. He looked over her work, and smiled over to her, ruffling her hair a little bit, and he looked back on the screen. "You did well, Jin," He said, and he yawned, glancing at Tentomon as he continued to snooze. He laughed. "He sure does sleep a lot. Of course, he always has slept a lot, from day one when I met him as Montimon," He explained, and smiled down to her. "I remember it like it was yesterday. I used to think we were in an alien world. When I saw the phone—."

"—booths, you tried to use the phone lines to connect with the aliens," Jin finished it for him, laughing. "I remember. You've only told me that story a thousand times over again," Jin laughed, and she leaned her head back. Ooh, it hurt to talk, laugh, and even move. She was so hungry. Three days without eating, and with very little water. She touched her stomach, and looked back over to her. He gave her an apologetic look, and he looked back to the computer, wrinkling his nose. Jin closed her eyes, and she frowned. "You sure you didn't pack any food, at all?" She asked, and he let out a sigh, which pretty much meant 'No, now stop talking.' Jin just looked back up to the cave's ceiling, closing her eyes.

"I think we should move," Izzy said, which definitely caught Jin's attention. "I mean, not apartments, I mean caves. Obviously, whatever is controlling the Sovereign knows where we are." At her whining, and he nodded. "I know you're hungry, and tired, but we really don't have any choice. It's only a matter of time before they come back to try and take us out again, so we need to leave while we can," He explained, and he saved all the progress they both of them had made with this program, smiling down to her. "Now come on. We can ride on Kabutarimon…he'll find us a spot, and we won't even have walk very much," He said, and looked over to Tentomon. "Can you handle that?" He asked, and the digimon nodded excitedly.

It seemed like they had been flying for hours. Jin clung to the leg of Kabutarimon, her eyes closed. The fear of heights she'd had for most of her life now was gone, now, since they'd been flying so high for so long. She sighed, growling, and she pushed back some of her hair. "When are we going to find a place?" She asked in a very frustrated way. She glanced over at Labramon, whose ears flapped wildly in the wind, his head held up high as to catch all of the wind. She rose up somewhat to see Izzy, who was sitting where he normally did on Kabutarimon, the computer safely in his bag he'd taken with them.

Izzy glanced down to her. "Just until Kabutarimon sees somewhere safe," He explained, and rolled his eyes. He just couldn't believe she was breaking down this quickly—the original team stuck with it. Except for Joe. This was behavior he would expect from Joe's children, to just break down and give up, but not Jin. Since the death of her mother, Jin had been getting stronger and stronger every year. But now, it seemed that the strength was breaking down. It definitely had mostly to do with the hunger, Izzy decided, but he wasn't sure why else she was just giving it all up.

Finally, _finally_, Kabutarimon spotted a safe spot. Behind a waterfall was yet another cave, but this time it was much bigger than their last hole-in-the-wall, with room to even stand up. Izzy and Jin hopped off of Kabutarimon and he dedigivolved back into Tentomon. They slipped between the waterfall and the cave's wall easily enough, and Izzy began to work on a fire in the corner, using a few sticks he'd found. Jin glanced around at the cave, noting some little cave drawings, no doubt from ancient digimon before them. She let her fingers trail into the water, and she pulled them away, wiping them on her already damp jeans.

The fire lit up, and Jin joined her father by sitting in front of it, warming her hands a little. She sighed somewhat, rubbing her eyes. "I think I'm gonna try getting some sleep," She mumbled, and he nodded to her, watching her go off next to Labramon and lay down. He opened his laptop, and yawned, going to his recently opened documents throughout the computer. He went to click on the program he was making, when something else caught his eye. He saw the document titled 'Message', and cocked his head to the side a little. He never remembered making a document with that name. He checked the time, and found he was asleep when it was last saved. He opened it, and glanced to Jin, wondering what this was all about.

The more he read it, the more he felt the lump in his throat. Her words were so full of acceptance of the entire situation. He just could not believe she really wrote this. She knew how real this was…not even _he_ knew how real this was. He gulped somewhat, and he shut down the document, glancing over at her sleeping form. Had he taught her to lie down and just not bother fighting anything? Izzy sighed somewhat, his eyes turning just a little red at the thought of her writing that. He wished she wouldn't realize how real this was. He wish she was little again, and just assumed that everything in her father's hands was going to end up okay. He couldn't help but drift off to the memory of her getting her digiegg and digivice.

_Jin played on the edge of a small lake near their house, splashing in the shallow water and playing with some of the snails. "Don't get too dirty, Jinny—I don't wanna give you a bath _before _dinner," Izzy said with a chuckle. It'd only been a couple weeks since his wife died, and he was willing to bet that neither of them had even let it sink in. He sat a little ways back on a lawn chair, laptop sitting on his lap, a careful eye watching it. "Don't go in anymore!" He said to her, now that she was almost knee-deep in water. He went back to his computer, when he heard her gasp._

_He looked up, and saw her playing with a white and purple striped egg. He rose up, recognizing the sight almost instantly. He took the egg from her, and then plucked her from out of the water. "What is it?" Jin asked, and she sat next to it, looking it over curiously. He watched her with his own curiosity, chuckling, until he grabbed her hand, and helped her to hatch it. When it came out as Paomon, Jin looked surprised, but she instantly embraced the digimon, only assuming it was one. "Is this my Tentomon?" She asked, and Izzy just laughed, agreeing with her on that one._

"Izzy?"

Izzy looked up to see Tentomon looking at him, and he smiled. "Just wanted to make sure you were still with us," The bug explained, and he proceeded to go and take a nap himself. Izzy didn't stop him, despite how much sleep he was getting anyway—after all, if they didn't have their own strength, no digivolving would ever get done.


	5. Chapter 5

Not too long later did Jin wake up again. She curled over, halfway expecting to see her computer staring back at her while she lay in the comfortable sheets of her bed. But alas, she woke up on stone, her head rested on stone, and she was most definitely ruining her spine on stone. Jin let out a small groan, and she looked up to the completely stone ceiling of their smart little cave. Slowly the clicking of the keyboard reached her eyes, and she visibly rolled her eyes. Was he really still working on it? They'd never get it done. They may as well just sit around and rest for their last days. It would be a neat way to go, just relaxing and resting alongside of him and her digimon partner. Then Labramon and Tentomon would get more partners (surely), and be happy all over again. Right?

Finally, Jin made her presence known. She cleared her throat, and rose up from where she was previously laying. It was dark outside, now, but it looked to be getting lighter. She reached for her digivice, and saw it was about five in the morning. "I slept for twelve hours?" She asked, and Izzy just shrugged. She felt guilty. He'd barely slept at all…he was going to go first, she decided. And then what was she going to do? Jin didn't really want to die alone, after all. But she really didn't want her father to die alone, either. She sighed a little roughly, and scooted back to rest herself against the cave wall, watching as Labramon switched sleeping positions. "Would you like me to help you out?" She asked.

"No," Izzy replied tersely, and with little love in his voice. He looked strained, like he barely had anything left in him. And he didn't. Izzy touched his now hairy chin, hating the feeling of facial hair. He continued to type, but the lines were beginning to run together. He was almost finished with this blasted program though, and he intended to finish it before he bothered to hand the reigns over to Jin. He looked over to her, seeing the scared look on her face. Finally, she was not acting so adult…not like that letter. It still creeped him out, a lot. "Hey," He said, his voice hoarse and cracking. "It'll be okay." Those words used to help her. Apparently not now.

"That's exactly the opposite of what it's going to be," She grumbled to him, and she folded her arms over her chest. After a moment, she began to rekindle the fire that he'd obviously put out a while ago. "It'll be alright when we die," She continued, but mostly to herself. "Then we'll finally be out of this horrible situation, cause that is that is the only way out of here, is dying." She seemed a bit mad as she rubbed the two sticks together, looking more and frustrated that it wasn't lighting. "Damnit!" She yelled, finally, and she threw the sticks across the room. Her cursing woke up the digimon, including a very concerned Labramon.

Jin seemed to lose it, now. In another fit of anger, in under just a week, she threw her fist angrily into the stone wall. A small crack could be heard, but it didn't hurt her too bad. She was high again, high on the adrenaline and anger that ran through her. She rose up, and just screamed, accompanied with some tears. "I just can't sit back and let us die!" She yelled. "But there's just nothing to do, nothing I can do, nothing I can do!" Her yelling was high-pitched, and bounced off the cave walls. "My entire being is just sore from laying on stone, and not eating, or drinking fresh water!" She yelled, like all of this was supposed to be his fault, but Izzy didn't seem to be taking it this way, thank goodness. She tugged at her hair as she sat back down, finally feeling her finger and the sharp pain that ran constantly through it. Her eyes were puffy and red, and tears almost flew out of them as she sat there. "I think…" She began, breathing short, shallow breaths between some of her words. "I think I broke something."

Izzy stopped what he was doing, trying his best to remain calm while his daughter had a small meltdown. He let out a tiny sigh, just watching her scream, and yell, and cry, and didn't move to stop her or calm her down. If she didn't get this out, it would eat her up so horribly, and she wouldn't go very peacefully. That was the last thing Izzy wanted for her. When she finally sat down, though, he released his own breath, watching her realize she'd hurt her finger rather badly. He nodded to what she last said. Izzy gently pushed his computer off of him, crawled to her with his bag, and he began to dig in it for a makeshift splint and something to wrap it with. "If it's one thing I learned from Joe Kido, Jin, it was to come prepared," He said to her, as if it was useful now.

He took her ring finger (the thought that it would never have a band on it popping into his hand, but he quickly and quietly shooed that thought away), and felt around it to make sure it was broken. When he put slight pressure on one spot in particular, she inhaled sharply and let out a whine. He nodded. "It's broken, but I think I have something in here for it. Don't worry," He said with a smile, and he dug into a pen. He took apart a pen, using the main body of it as a splint, and began to wrap some gauze around it. When Izzy found he had run out, he growled, and went to his bag to get more, when something very shocking stared at him. Two granola bars and a sandwich almost glowed heavenly up at him, and he let out a very sharp gasp. "Jin," He said, and he pulled them out.

They were both so happy they almost began to cry, both of them. Shakily they opened the granola bars and Izzy tore the sandwich in half, giving her the bigger half, of course. With her broken finger quickly forgotten, they instantly began to dig in like animals. The food was gone long before any of them could really taste anything from it, but it was still a relief. They both sighed peacefully, they shrunken stomachs certainly full of food well beyond what they were used to. In fact, Jin was feeling just a little sick, but that hopefully was mostly from the finger she'd just remember. "Ow, ow…" She mumbled, holding her finger carefully, and Izzy realized he'd forgotten, too. He sighed, and he took her finger, gently wrapping more gauze he'd found.

"Is that too tight?" He asked, and she shook her head softly, smiling wide at him for a thank you. Izzy rubbed his chin once more, looking to Jin. "Now, will you go and finish the program? I haven't slept in…in a while, and I think I want to sleep, now," He said, and when she scooted over to the computer, he literally almost passed out right on the stone floor.

When Izzy woke up again, it was very abruptly. He felt the earth shake beneath him, and by the look of Jin's face, so did she. He sat up, quickly woke up the digimon, closed the computer as Jin stood up, and they exited the cave quickly. Above them, there was nothing but a huge firebird of a digimon, who Izzy immediately recognized as Zhuqiaomon. He clung to Jin's shoulder for a moment before he reluctantly let go. Zhuqiaomon laughed heartily above them, looking straight down at him with his huge, red eyes. "So these are the measly humans Gennai has offered us?" He asked, though it was obviously a rhetorical question. "Only two? I thought this was going to be harder, since you two somehow got through the first of us Sovereigns. No matter, though…you won't be wasting my time trying to fight, will you?" He asked, right as Cerberumon and Megakabutarimon made their appearance.

"Be careful!" Jin advised them as they began to go to battle. Obviously, Megakabutarimon would be making a lot of the attacks from air, and Cerberumon playing second fiddle. Megakabutarimon rose, the two massive digimon stalking each for a while before finally Zhuqiaomon attacked. "Phoenix fire!" He yelled, and Megakabutarimon was hit instantly with the wall of fire, knocking him back and out of the air. Izzy visibly winced, and watched as Cerberumon planned his own attack. He leapt from the ground, and hopped straight into the air, his teeth clamping down on his massive tail.

Zhuqiaomon let out a loud yell, seeing Cerberumon hang on for dear life until finally, his claw reached behind and scratched Cerberumon dangerously close to his throat. He had no choice but the fall from the sky, and land with a large thump in a bush. Zhuqiaomon cackled. "Is that all you've got, you mangy—!" he stopped when he felt Megakabutarimon's Horn Buster hitting his back, and he let out a loud screech that rang in Izzy and Jin's ears. He recovered before he fell from the sky completely, but then felt Cerberumon's sharp teeth digging into one of his wings, and tugging.

Finally, Zhuqiaomon let out a huge attack of fire coming from every inch of his body, covering Megakabutarimon and Cerberumon's body. Both of them fell onto the ground, Megakabutarimon letting out a huge thump throughout the surrounding land. Izzy let out a small growl, and he ran over to the huge bug, his eyes wide with surprise and fear. Jin followed, but kept at a safe distance. "No," Izzy breathed, his hands on his digimon's hard shell. "No, you've got to get up, Megakabutarimon, you've got to get up and fight!" When the digimon didn't respond, Izzy let out a yell, his fists balled up. Jin was mildly scared as she watched him get so angry, she turned her head down respectfully, just as he had done with her.

"You've got to get up, and you've got to keep fight…" He breathed, and he fell to his knees, his fists making hard contact with the ground. "Please…" He begged, and he let out a few quick breaths, shaking his head. Izzy was so desperate for some sort of response, but nothing happened. Finally, Izzy rose up, and he began to walk away from the large digimon he'd once called his best friend. He cursed quietly, and ran a hand through his longish hair, not even bothering to look back.

But he should have. Because not even moments after he began to walk, a purple energy surrounded Megakabutarimon and Izzy alike. He felt odd, but he couldn't speak. Overcome with whatever this could be, Izzy fell to his knees for the second time, but this time not out of despair. He just couldn't control himself any longer. The purple light only grew, and all three of the remaining beings in the area had to shield their eyes. It even seemed to hurt Zhuqiaomon quite a bit. When the light subsided to a point where Jin and Cerberumon could both watch, her father was gone, and so was Megakabutarimon. A feeling of sudden panic overtook her, and she let out a yell. It'd happened, they were actually gone. And now it was up to—

She stopped, and she looked up to see a bigger, stronger, and much more intimidating bug-like digimon. He was all gold, save for a bit of red on his arms and legs. His wingspan was beyond overwhelming, and in place of a mouth were gigantic chompers, which snapped together after a moment. "Jin," The digimon said, and he looked down to her staggering self. "It's me. I mean, it's us…it's Tentomon, and your father. This is prodigious!" The digimon exclaimed, and looked around, as if amazed at it's own size. "I'm…I'm HerculesKabutarimon," He said, and he snapped the chompers once more, his wings making a loud buzzing sound as he hovered.

Jin's mouth fell open. "They're…they're together," She said to her digimon, who had during the time rose up, with enough time to rest. "It's both of them. As one. They're both digimon," She repeated, not seeming to really understand the concept immediately. Her mouth still refused to close as she saw the bug rise at dizzying heights, Zhuqiaomon following quickly. "Be…be careful!" She yelled for the second time, and she gripped her digivice tight, looking up to all of them. She was helpless, but he was stronger, now.

The battle began quickly. HerculesKabutarimon attacked swiftly, and with ease. Zhuqiaomon got a few shots in himself, but HerculesKabutarimon overpowered them with his strong Mega Electro Shocker. Zhuqiaomon was shocked, for the third time, directly out of the sky. He looked weak as he laid there, so weak, that for a moment Cerberumon wasn't sure if he should attack. Knowing he had to get rid of the digimon, though, he walked forward, and all of his heads bent down to bite roughly on his neck, squeezing hard until Zhuqiaomon finally disappeared into data.

Jin wasn't sure if what happened was real. They were much powerful, because of this HerculesKabutarimon. As she stared down at where Zhuqiaomon previously lay, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped around, and saw her dad standing there, with a small Pabumon, looking absolutely adorable. Jin's mouth was still wide open. "You…you digivolved. You were digital," She breathed. He looked so much healthier, now, mostly thanks to the shared energy he took back with him. "You were a digimon," She breathed, and his hand slid off of her shoulder. She smirked. "That is so prodigious."


End file.
